The Google Play store, coming to a Chromebook near you

We launched Chromebooks for people who wanted a fast, simple and secure computing experience. Chromebooks just work – open the lid, and within seconds, you’re on your favorite sites and apps, getting stuff done. Virus protection and automatic updates are built-in, so you don’t have to manage your computer. And that’s worked great for our users. Schools in the US are now buying more Chromebooks than all other devices combined – and in Q1 of this year, Chromebooks topped Macs in overall shipments to become the #2 most popular PC operating system in the US*.

We’ve been encouraged by this growth, but our users have often told us that they would like to do even more with their Chromebooks – run more apps, use Office files more easily, connect with a variety of apps, and do more when they’re offline.

So, we’re bringing Google Play (the most popular app store in the world) to Chromebooks. This means you’ll be able to download and use Android apps, so you can make a Skype call, work with Office files and be productive offline – or take a break with games like Minecraft, Hearthstone or Clash of Clans.

The same apps that run on phones and tablets can now run on Chromebooks without compromising their speed, simplicity or security. This is good for users and great for developers – in addition to phones and tablets, they will be able to easily bring their apps to laptops. And all this is built on top of Chrome OS, so users will continue to have everything they love in their Chromebooks.

Google Play will start rolling out in the developer channel with M53 on the ASUS Chromebook Flip, the Acer Chromebook R 11 and the latest Chromebook Pixel. Over time, this will roll out to other Chromebooks in the market too. And, we’ve also been working with our partners to launch some great new devices specially designed for Play. Stay tuned for more details to come over the next few months.

It’s interesting that this will only support Chromebooks with a touchscreen first, then move onto support other Chromebooks.

Interesting, but also makes sense as they would involve the least amount of effort to support Android apps.

Roger Stringer spends most of his time solving problems for people, and otherwise occupying himself with being a dad, cooking, speaking, learning, writing, reading, and the overall pursuit of life. He lives in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada